— photo courtesy the Ignatieff campaign site
Michael Ignatieff can’t say whether or not he’ll continue being my MP if the Liberals don’t give him the steering wheel.
I saw his support up close when I worked the NDP campaign against him in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. These are committed longterm Liberals, good neighbourhood folks who worked very, very hard to get him elected despite the safe seat he chose, and despite their party’s game-playing around the nomination process. Do comments like these not bother them?
“Depends who’s leader,” Ignatieff said yesterday when asked at a meeting with the Toronto Star editorial board if he would run for the party in the next election if he loses the leadership vote in early December.
…Ignatieff argued he wouldn’t be “doing this occasionally difficult job” without serious commitment. “It’s been brutal,” he said. “Etobicoke-Lakeshore was very, very tough.”
“But you won’t commit to run for Etobicoke-Lakeshore again?” he was asked.
Replied Ignatieff: “I’d like to serve my constituents well, but you’re asking me an anticipatory hypothetical about the situation that prevails on the 3rd or 4th of December.”
Hypothetical? If the answer is “I am committed to running in Etobicoke-Lakeshore again whether I am leader or not,” there is very little hypothetical about it.
Thanks to Torontoist for the tip on this. Ron why didn’t you write this posting?